College and University Books

This is a valuable guide for new chairs of the departments. It is a practical guide. It must be on the desk of every new chairman of the department

This book examines state policy and higher educational reform in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. The dearth of attention to the postsecondary experience of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean makes this a very special contribution to the literature in the field, where present literature focuses primarily on Central and Latin America, the larger context of globalization, or specific issues like financing, equity, and quality. The authors weigh variables of economic environments, political institutions, and culture as they analyze the evolution of higher educational policy and post-secondary institutional change. Their analyses at once show the commonality of problems across Caribbean national boundaries, and illuminate the ways in which processes of educational change and reform differ between the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
The authors conclude that the convergence of higher education trends and reforms in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic are not serendipitous (including the shared experience of "brain drain" emigration to the continental United States), underscoring the need for Caribbean post-secondary institutions and their respective states to explore new linkages and deepen existing transnational interconnectedness. Numerous barriers and challenges remain; the book ends with an extensive discussion of future agendas in higher education and public policy on these islands and in New York City.



Hardcover Info:
ISBN 1-55876-323-6
268pp
$69.95

Also available in Paperback :
ISBN 1-55876-324-4
268pp
$24.95
About Silvio Torres-Salliant:
Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University, is the author of Caribbean Poetics: Toward an Aesthetic of West Indian Literature.

About Maria J. Canino:
Maria J. Canino, University of Puerto Rico, is the co-editor of La politica social ante los nuevos desafios: Cuba y Puerto Rico.

A

This book is a lifesaver, complete with flowcharts of possible problems, descriptions of illnesses, what to do for your child and when to call the doctor. Most helpful of all are the many pictures of what rashes, etc. actually look like. I heartily recommend this for anyone with children.

This is an outstanding and well researched book which discusses how the Chinese higher education (University and Institute) system has modernised and developed relations with foreign education providers, particular universities. A case study analytical approach is used to add specific aspects to the book, which is one of the finest assessments of how East can work with West to the mutual benefit of both. Hayhoe combines an erudite approach with an enthusiasm and freshness for her subject which makes this a compulsive, yet academically thorough, read. Her perspective is that of an educationalist; but her analysis and overall discussion has value for researchers from other disciplines such as international marketers seeking to develop an understanding of the Chinese higher education system as a market for foreign cooperation and entry. Anyone interested in the Chinese higher education system should read this book. Similarly no university should enbteer the Chinese market without gaining an understanding of the complexities of the market, and the nature of Sino-Foreign academic cooperation as discussed in this (and other Hayhoe) books.

An amazing story of the little appreciated heros of early American history: the Methodist curcuit riders! However, this is not just a story about "saints," but of normal men and women who struggle with their own selves in the face of the primative nature of life in the early 1800's Ohio "wilderness." Eggleston has woven a plot of intrigue, and romances -- good for both sexes. As he comments, "The curcuit riders were as essential to the settlement of the West as the Puritans to New England." What an enjoyable way to discover it.

As a student i found this book interesting from an introductory point of view. It give us a step by step knowledge in circuit theory. Very useful and easy to undersatnd. hardly recomendable. sorry it is out of print.

Leroy Davis is a briliant scholar and an excellent teacher. His depth of knowledge on John Hope is amazing, and the real man comes through in this great book.

-Adam Rothwell

"I believe that our own experience instructs us that the secret of education lies in respecting the pupil" (Emerson 251). This statement is the keystone to Ralph Waldo Emerson's argument about successful education. Three areas that Emerson analyzes and offers his own suggested approaches are in dealing with the general education of children, education of exceptional children, and satisfaction of educators. Yet imbedded within his arguments, with varying levels of subtlety, is the common theme of respect for the pupil. This implies that when respect is factored out of the pedagogy, the educational experience as a whole deteriorates. It is important to analyze whether the current pedagogy corresponds with that of Emerson, and more importantly, if it does not correspond, what effect does this have on education today? In order to analyze this, Emerson's approaches to the general education of children, education of exceptional children, and satisfaction of educators all need to be compared to America's modern pedagogy.

On the general education of children, Emerson states that the key is patience on the part of the educator. Emerson encourages the educator to take a passive approach (256-257). He cautions that he is not suggesting that the educator "throw up the reins of public and private discipline" or "leave the child to the mad career of his own passions and whimsies," (251) but rather that allowing the child to approach when he or she is ready for guidance is more effective than inundating the child with information that he or she is unprepared to accept (256-257). In contrast, there is little time for patience in a pupil's curriculum today. Instructors are charged with providing a specific amount of information to the pupils in a set time span with little deviation, and the duty of preparing the pupils to receive that information is left to previous instructors, parents, or even the pupils themselves (Silver 351-354). This scenario triggers a chain reaction, where the pupil left unprepared to receive information does not understand it substantially, leaving him or her unprepared for the next serving of information.

In addition to patience, Emerson states that an effective curriculum is one that provides pupils with accurate perceptions (Emerson 253). His suggestion is that the goal of an effective educator should not be to teach the pupils subject matter, but rather to teach them how learn. Emerson is primarily applying to education the aphorism: "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Once the pupil has been provided with the necessary tools for advanced comprehension, such as basic arithmetic and grammar, the student "can learn anything which is important to him" (253). Modern standards in education, especially since the advent of standardized testing, run counter to this precept. Pupils today are not evaluated by their capability to learn, but rather the quantity and scope of the information that they can retain and provide on demand. This places increased emphasis on memorization of pre-existing data and diminishes the importance of comprehension. Accurate perceptions on pupils' behalf are prized if they occur, but instructors do not, as a general rule, have the opportunity to cultivate them.

On the education of exceptional children, Emerson acknowledges that some pupils are superior to others. Although people are born with the potential to be genius, he argues, genius is obstructed in most (254). In the end, people predominantly lack "enthusiasm" and "they are more sensual than intellectual" (254). In order to adequately provide these few exceptional pupils with the exceptional training they can thrive on, the educational system would need to be developed in a manner that focused on the individual. Yet even during the 1860s, well before the modern public school, Emerson realized that the educational system was designed not to educate the few geniuses but the general population. Although he recognizes the importance of education and wants as many people to become educated as possible, he criticizes a system under which educators conduct the education of all pupils in the same manner, regardless of their varied capacities (254-255). "What tranquil mind will have it fortified to walk with meekness in private and obscure duties, to wait and to suffer?" (255). Even today, pupils in the school system are organized into distinct groups based on the median abilities of an age range. Students whose performance does not meet the expectation are either left to drift or left behind, while students whose performance could exceed the expectation are subjected to an education of the lowest common denominator of acceptability. This stratification that results from mass education, therefore, places the few geniuses in the disadvantaged position in favor of the general pupils (Webb 525-538). "Hence the instruction seems to require skilful tutors, of accurate and systematic mind," says Emerson, perhaps because it will take an educator of skill to be able to satiate the mind of the exceptional pupil while educating the general pupils (Emerson 254).

A skill that Emerson regards as crucial to the task of the educator, which seems to follow in hand with exceptional children is that of encouraging the children to participate in the pursuit of their educations. "If one of the young people says a wise thing, greet it, and let the children clap their hands" (258). This is one of the simpler manners with which an exceptional child can be allowed to flourish in an environment that also allows for the education of the general pupils. "If a child happens to show that he knows any fact about astronomy, or plants, or birds, or rocks, or history, that interests him and you, hush all the classes and encourage him to tell it so that all may hear" (258). Above all, Emerson calls for educators to encourage their pupils' questioning nature, saying that if a pupil "cries out that you are wrong and sets you right, hug him!" (258). These tactics will mitigate a significant amount of the harm done to an exceptional child in an inadequate setting.

On the satisfaction of educators, Emerson says little directly but much implicitly. The satisfaction of the educator is tethered to the concept of "mutual delight" (253). Just as the pupil can be eager to learn and is delighted to expand his or her understanding of the world, the educator can be eager to impart his or her understanding. There is a mutual pleasure in education and educating, and there are mutual axioms that apply to each. A pupil that consistently finds no resource to expand his or her mind may find that mind atrophy, likewise the educator that consistently finds no outlet for his or her resources may find those resources diminish. Emerson argues that, through humans' ability to communicate their thoughts, educators have the ability to impart their thoughts and are naturally compelled to do so (253-254). "One burns to tell the new fact, the other burns to hear it" (254). A report from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that instructors today are overall not satisfied with their jobs, predominantly because the conditions in the schools do not afford them the opportunity to impart their knowledge in a significant way to their pupils (Perie 3, 16-17). Instructors today are supplied with an increasingly rigid curriculum and increased class size, both of which will suppress the instructors' ability to "smuggle in a little contraband wit, fancy, imagination, thought" (Emerson 257). It is important to realize that both the instructor and the pupil share in the dissstisfaction of the situation, so a "mutual frustration" exists as well (Silver 119). The best advice Emerson can offer instructors is patience and to strive to be an encouraging presence in the lives of the pupils (258).

In all three cases, the general education of children, the education of exceptional children, and the satisfaction of educators, modern America seems not to have heeded Emerson's call. As a result, our educational system pales before his ideals, often in ways that Emerson described it would. Perhaps Emerson himself understood his suggestions to be merely ideals, not practicable even in the 1860s. Emerson claimed to be "utterly at a loss in suggesting particular reforms in our ways of teaching," preferring not to assign the burden of reform to either the institutions or the individuals (257). This does not mean, however, that his ideals are not attainable, rather they are something that today's modern pedagogy should aspire to. It is possible that a future pedagogical reform could coincide with Emerson, in which case the world will be the beneficiary.

Works Cited:

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "On Education." A World of Ideas. Ed.
Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2006.

Perie, Marianne and David P. Baker. Job Satisfaction Among America's Teachers: Effects of Workplace Conditions, Background
Characteristics, and Teacher Compensation (Report No. NCES 97471). National Center for Education Statistics. Washington: U.S. Dept. of Education, 1997.

Silver, Larry B. The Misunderstood Child: Understanding and Coping with Your Child's Learning Disabilities. 3rd ed. New York: Times Books, 1998.

Webb, James T. "Nurturing Social-Emotional Development of Gifted Children." International Handbook for Research on Giftedness and Talent. Eds. K.A. Heller and F.J. Monks. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1993.

Wow,
I had hardly time to track down my order- and the book was already delivered!
I am very pleased with Amazon!
Thank you, all you Amazon people!

The book arrived in great condition and it was very helpful in reviewing the material.